Advanced Search Beta »
Basic Search Fields
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Image
See the trailer
Metascore
55 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 28 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 56 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
Rate this:
  • Starring: Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis
  • Summary: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a powerful fictional story that offers a unique perspective on how prejudice, hatred and violence affect innocent people, particularly children, during wartime. Through the eyes of an eight-year-old boy largely shielded from the reality of World War II, we witness a forbidden friendship that forms between Bruno, the son of Nazi commandant, and Shmuel, a Jewish boy held captive in a concentration camp. Though the two are separated physically by a barbed wire fence, their lives become inescapably intertwined. The imagined story of Bruno and Shmuel sheds light on the brutality, senselessness and devastating consequences of war from an unusual point of view. Together, their tragic journey helps recall the millions of innocent victims of the Holocaust. (Miramax Films)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 28
  3. Negative: 5 out of 28
  1. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    100
    And yet the great conundrum of the Holocaust is that it was perpetrated by human beings, not monsters. Few movies have rendered this puzzle so powerfully.
  2. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    50
    The bulk of the movie consists of scene after scene coyly setting up the same ironic juxtaposition, in the exact same way, about innocence vs. Nazism.
  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Nathan Southern
    38
    Herman fails to journey beyond the surface-level realities of his central perspective, which makes his film feel half-developed and poorly conceived, and drives it into sensationalism.

See all 28 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 24
  3. Negative: 3 out of 24
  1. NedRyerson1
    8
    The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is one of those emotional movies that you could easily put together with films like My Sister Keeper, A walk to Remember or Remember Me, but the thing that separates this picture from the bunch is that the conflict is more believable and it involves historical events, so it approaches more to reality. There are three situations that add strength to the plot, the first one is the way in which Bruno sees the world that surrounds him and according to this he lives his life, the point of view and judgment of this boy is incredible because is pure, innocent and not influence by common sense or human reason. Second it is the relationship between Bruno’s parents; this is special because the father hides info about his work to the mother, so when she discovers want the Germans are truly doing, the mother sinks into depression. Finally the paradox in which is trapped Bruno; what he learns about the Jews from his father, tutor and the books, is confronted by the experiences that tells Shmuel. This movie is heartbreaking, beautiful and amazing; it has well developed sequences and great performances, highlighting the one of Vera Farmiga.… Expand
    • 2 of 2 users said yes
  2. RyanLopez
    5
    This movie made me cry, it was just so damn sad, how bad those **** Nazis treated those poor, innocent Jews. I know that's what it was like in World War II, this movie made me cry over and over again… Expand
    • 1 of 2 users said yes
  3. Pjotr
    0
    I admit I only saw this movie on DVD...and am really embarrassed. When it's all good intentions, but deeply unhistorical, you probably have to call it a kitsch feast. But then again, given the earnest and sensitive subject. I'd rather call it stupid and obscene. Nazi officials during the war, dancing to English swing music...had always thought that members of the illegal "swing youth" were imprisoned and persecuted. A Nazi family praying in public! A Jewish boy playing by the fence, when in all the camps, approaching the fence meant being shot. No fairy tales about the holocaust, please.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 24 User Reviews

Trailers